Towards Development of Sustainable Urban Transportation System: Rethinking the Paradigms of Mobility in Cities

Abstract

Since the 1950s, the role of public transport services has declined in many cities due to the rapid growth of vehicles ownership, resulting in more unorganized spatial structures. The challenges to promoting sustainable transportation systems include high dependency on fossil fuels, technical and data constraints, as well as political and regulatory gaps. It is therefore necessary to fundamentally rethink the paradigms of mobility and urban planning. The paper describes how sustainable performance measures can be used to integrate sustainability of the environment, economy and society into the transportation decision-making process. The findings provide evidence-based guidance to communities aimed at reducing the environmental impact of urban transportation and improving long-term sustainability. Further analysis provides useful insights into political suggestions and actions needed to improve urban transportation systems and services. The suggested case studies demonstrate that there are many diverse sustainability measures in local environments around the world, reflecting the positive effects. However, their disintegrated evaluation is inconclusive, therefore further research and cooperation between communities are required to establish universal criteria.